We use Microsoft BI all over our enterprise but our main use is for the organizational dashboard. My organization sends all of our systems and ERP data into a Power BI dashboard, which goes to all the managers, the leadership, and then gets reported up to the company executives.
Microsoft BI has helped out the organization because it has brought visibility of our data across the organization allowing everyone to see the same metrics.
My favorite feature is the power query editor, where it can do the data transformations.
Microsoft BI could improve by having better collaboration between developers working on the same dashboard. The developer platform is all done on a single laptop and it's difficult to have the same project files work. Two developers have to go back and forth. You have to have the project file on one developer's laptop making it difficult to co-develop.
In terms of the performance, it could always improve sometimes. It's only slow to update. The automated data feeds have to be all updated.
I have been using Microsoft BI for two years.
The stability of Microsoft BI is very good. We have not had an issue.
Microsoft BI has scaled very well for us. We have a very large organization with users all across the company.
We have approximately 100 users using this solution. It's a standard program for analysts and even managers will use it. It is a standard business analyst software.
The solution is extensively being used in our organization.
I have not contacted Mircosoft for technical support. I only use our internal support.
We previously used SAS and it is similar to Microsoft BI. It's a little different in the visualization. It was more on analytics, but it also had the visualization.
We had SAS Enterprise Guide which was on-premise. When they were looking at cloud solutions, they kind of opened it up for more possibilities. The deciding factors of why we switched to Microsoft BI was we already had many Microsoft products and we have a SQL Server Data Warehouse. There's good integration between our existing Microsoft systems with Microsoft BI.
I was part of the initial user testing of Microsoft BI, but it was mostly IT that handled all the initial implementation.
We have a dedicated IT team of two administrators that support Microsoft BI. One of the administrator's full-time job is to manage the Microsoft BI.
My advice to those wanting to implement this solution is to do some training. There is enough training curriculum available to get people going.
I rate Microsoft BI a nine out of ten.
I primarily use Tableau for fair-market reporting.
I've been using it a lot for our dashboarding needs, circulating data to the business, generating PDFs, and publishing on the portal.
Over the time that I have used this solution, I've found the interface to be extremely user-friendly.
I especially like the flexibility that Tableau provides. You can quickly make web edits from version 9.0 onwards. My understanding is that Tableau 2020 has many more features for this, as well.
I customize the reports to my needs and preferences.
There is a lot of APIs available, which means that Tableau can be customized to a large extent.
Tableau had some issues with parameters. In particular, prior to version 2020, they did not have dynamic parameters.
Tableau cannot work with cubes or MDX (multidimensional expressions).
For enterprise-level users that are computing millions of records, they need to improve the features.
I have been using Tableau for close to five years.
In all aspects, Tableau has been very stable.
When there are millions of records, scaling up is quite difficult. There are, however, workarounds.
For example, you have to create summary tables or aggregate tables so that Tableau can be faster. There are third-party solutions like Kyvos available but if Tableau can integrate that and address the scalability, then it'll be an undisputed champion in the space.
Technical support is extremely good. Since we have been a customer of Tableau, they have always responded really well to our queries. This is true regarding price, as well as in the technical aspect.
They have a good knowledge forum.
I have worked with SAP BusinessObjects, Domo, SAP, and Birst.
One of the reasons that I prefer Tableau is that it's very user-friendly. Anyone who is familiar with Excel can easily adapt to Tableau.
We have been using Tableau for a long time, and we have seen a return on investment. The reason is that we have been able to scale it up to an enterprise level.
In the long run, there is definitely a return on investment.
Licensing is slightly on the higher side compared to other products, such as Birst. There are different licensing options so you really have to be careful when choosing them. I recommend that you discuss your needs with the salesperson and try to negotiate the price.
In general, the price is slightly higher than products such as Power BI and Birst.
Tableau is a solution that is near-perfect.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
One of my use cases is integrating personnel data from multiple systems.
Once you have learned Informatica, it is very easy to use.
The feedback that I have received from team members is that they found it easy to work with.
It is very difficult to learn.
The documentation could be improved. For example, if they were to create a system like SAS Books or IBM Redbooks that includes books on how to install, and how to troubleshoot problems, then it would be great.
I would like to see a centralized dashboard that can be used to access all of the Informatica products, rather than having a set of fragmented applications. A consolidated system with everything in a single platform would make it easier for technicians, as well as when it comes to purchasing it. That would be amazing.
I have been using Informatica PowerCenter for two years.
This is a stable product that has been around for a long time.
We have approximately eight people who use Informatica in the organization.
The customer service is good but they can't move you through the entire installation and troubleshooting process.
I also have experience with solutions from IBM, SAS, and other vendors.
My IT team was responsible for the deployment. Our team has approximately 12 people and they are responsible for installation and maintenance, including upgrades.
I consider this to be an expensive product.
In summary, Informatica is a good product that is very difficult to learn but once you learn it, it's very easy to use. It is a product that I can recommend using.
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
This product is used for reporting and visualization.
We are not using the latest version but rather, one version back.
From a financial or bank perspective, this product is secure enough.
The dashboards, analytics, visualizations, and different reports are valuable for business analytics.
The AI/ML enablement is useful, as many reporting tools do not offer machine learning models as of now, without writing customized code.
This product does not support custom charts in the visualization.
At this time, dataflows cannot be shared, but I think that this should be enhanced.
There are a couple of other limitations. For example, many reporting tools offer good features and oracle should learn from that.
There should be tool tech enhancements.
We have been using Oracle Analytics Cloud for approximately three years.
This is a stable solution and we plan to continue using it for at least another year.
I believe that this is a scalable product.
We have been in contact with Oracle technical support and we are satisfied with it.
I have worked with many reporting tools including SAS Visual Analytics, Spotfire, and Activu.
There was no specific reason for switching to Oracle Analytics Cloud. This was a decision driven by the priorities of the moment.
The time required for deployment is almost an hour.
Deployment requires a small team of people. One from admin, another from the development team, and one more.
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Our company does business intelligence recording.
The hyperintelligence is the most valuable feature.
Preparation, data loading, and data management application are challenging with MicroStrategy. It lacks cube-based analytics as it is outdated, meaning there is no memory or fast processing analytics, or MMA deployment.
We have been using MicroStrategy for three years.
MicroStrategy is very stable.
This is a scalable solution. We have 55 business users.
MicroStrategy's technical support is fair.
We used SAS prior to MicroStrategy and I preferred SAS.
The initial setup of MicroStrategy is complex. Our organization's structure requires the handling of three environments of the platform, development and production with the corporate technology, production support and the other IT support making it very complicated to get the developed final product live. Deployment took two weeks.
There is a ROI from MicroStrategy. The data management and visualization to start the business strategies creates new services. However, you do require an adjustment to policies in order to make a profit.
I am unsure what the licensing costs are for this solution however, development costs are around $100,000 per year.
I recommend other organizations focus on the data processing and data preparation for the platform because it is very challenging.
I would rate MicroStrategy a 7 out of 10.
